A number of workers, volunteers and clients of YSS came together in a room to tell us about their work. YSS stands for “Your Support Service”. Their mission is “Enabling people who are vulnerable, have complex needs and who face difficult life challenges to lead positive and constructive lives in society and to achieve their potential”. They are “a charity that helps people help themselves and we have been doing so for over thirty years”. They have programmes running in the whole West Mercia Police authority area.

Many though by no means all of those whom they help have come into contact with the criminal justice system. Sadly, the trigger for finding help, for many who have some sort of mental problem or confusion, is trouble with the law. It is good to see that society is moving on from a crude “Guilty or not guilty” approach to recognition that people, especially the young, can be steered away from trouble by giving them the confidence to say no to those who would lead them astray.